Blogs

Chicago, April 7, Almost precisely 20 years to the day since the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) came into force, the United States has launched a military strike against Syria for using them against its own civilian population.

Lucknow, April 4 (IANS) The gloves are finally off in the Samajwadi Party (SP), which was badly mauled by the Bharatiya Janata Party in the recent state elections. Although he sidelined both his father Mulayam Singh Yadav and uncle Shivpal Singh in the run-up to the polls, former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav now finds himself in the line of fire with more and more voices in the party questioning his leadership.

Begging is a crime in 20 states and two Union territories (UTs) of India, reflecting society's embarrassment at manifest poverty and annoyance at perceived encroachment of public spaces.

In most places, people can be arrested for "looking poor", as our analysis of laws in 18 states and UTs shows. Laws allow the police to round up beggars without warrant and judges to confine them in government-run institutions for long or indefinite periods -- a violation of constitutional principles.

In Ahmed Kathrada's death in Johannesburg at age 87, students of South African history have lost a precious resource person with a unique perspective on one of the world's great national liberation movements -- how it peaked, then lost its fizz.

The continued presence of insensate prejudice and brutal violence in public life has again been highlighted by the recent attacks on African students in Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh, a township near New Delhi.

Of the 30 million pending court cases in India as of December 2014, over 80 per cent are in district and subordinate courts, which are short of about 5,000 (23 per cent) judges. But filling vacancies may not be the universal answer, according to our analysis, which found only a weak direct correlation between shortage of judges and performance of lower courts.

These are trying times. Even some friends are turning. They probably see their interest better protected by keeping their options open for adjustments, should excesses increase. And even if they show their residual spunk by digging in their heels in favour of Lucknow's iconic Tunday Kababi, how will it help matters?

Over 10 years (2006-15), Uttar Pradesh (UP) transferred Indian Police Service (IPS) officers at four times the Indian average, according to an analysis of Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) data.

Although the rate of transfers declined 37 per cent over this period, the average IPS officer stayed at her post for less than a year over this period. Regardless, the crime rate doubled.

In the confrontation between the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the Leftist students in the various campuses, the saffron brotherhoods muscular nationalism is facing stiff resistance not so much from the traditional politicians, despite their occasional interventions, as from the students.

Indias infant mortality rate (IMR) reduced by 16 points over the last 10 years -- 41 children below the age of one died per 1,000 live births, down from 57 a decade ago, according to the India fact-sheet of the National Family Health Survey 2015-16 (NFHS-4), the largest-ever assessment of the countrys health and family welfare indicators.

It is not often that the world finds itself at the cusp of a revolution, and an industrial one is even more uncommon. India missed the bus on the first major industrial revolution that was brought about in 18th century Britain, on account of being on the wrong side of colonial history. No other phase of innovation has transformed the industrial landscape to a similar extent, except the digital revolution in the latter half of the 20th century.

Audiences in their hundreds of thousands across the subcontinent will remember Reshma with her flashing eyes and haunting, gypsy voice singing "Dama dum mast qalandar". Well, that's the Dhamaal signature tune.

Mumbai, Feb 24 (IANS) After the outcome of elections to 10 major civic bodies, including the country's biggest and richest, the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation, the Maharashtra political landscape now resembles one huge lake full of blooming lotuses -- the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) symbol.

Despite a Rs 10,290-crore increase for 2017-18, an analysis of the Union governments health budget reveals that most of this money is not being spent on Indias health priorities, which, instead, now face funding cuts.

People in India these days want greater control over the food they consume. There is also increased attention to choosing the ingredients. Preferred are food items with enriching and nourishing features and properties which prevent diseases and empower the body to gain immunity.

India must double antenatal visits by health workers to pregnant women to reduce the risk of stillbirths and pregnancy complications, according to a new World Health Organisation (WHO) guideline released last November. Is India ready to implement this and other new guidelines to protect its mothers? It is not, an analysis of government data and research studies shows.